Captivating Camille
by charrrr
Summary: Not being continued.
1. My bloody Soulfinder

**This is a follow-up to my other two stories, Darling Delilah and Glamorous Grace. GG obviously hasn't finished yet, so I'll make sure not to put any spoilers of that story in this one. This is set after the ending of GG which hasn't even happened yet (confusing, I know. Sorry.)  
****I wasn't going to start this until I'd finished GG but I just had all these ideas running around in my head and had to get them out. Once I'd wrote the chapter, I thought I'd post it because I was happy with the way it came out.**

**GG & my other story (which isn't a Finding Sky fanfiction) are my main priorities right now, but I'll try and update this one regularly. Maybe once or twice a week.**

* * *

Camille Badeaux strolled onto the 12th floor of the building she worked in. Residents of the city believed that it was a building for accountancy, which it was, but it was also the main building of the French section of the Savant Net; the Net was the main focus of the employees. "Bonjour Madame," her assistant - an eighteen year old Savant called Eloise whom loved to rush around to organize things for Camille for some reason - called out happily as Camille walked past her desk.

"Bonjour!" Camille smiled politely before going into her homely office, sighing when she saw her boss sat in her chair. "Adrien, you are aware that this is my office, yes?"

Adrien, a tall man with blonde hair, rolled his grey eyes and chuckled. "Of course I am. And I wouldn't have already been in here if you arrived to work on time for once."

Camille sighed, knowing that he had a point. She had a problem with getting out of bed in the morning, she just loved sleep and hated the idea of going to work. At twenty-two years old, she still acted like a teenager and literally screamed when her alarm clock rang at six am. "So what do you want?" She asked Adrien.

"I came to ask you if there's any new developments in the new case," he said. "You know that my talent is being able to tell when people lie, which is why I'm asking you in person. I understand that you may lie to me because if we catch the group, your brother will be sent to jail too."

"You think I don't know that?" She exclaimed. "It kills me to know that he's turned against the Net. But just because he's my brother, I'm not letting that affect my work. There have been no developments in the case, I'll contact you as soon as there have been, okay?"

"Okay, okay," he held his hands up in surrender; everybody in Camille's department knew not to anger her in case it caused her Savant power to come to use. "By the way, the American that's coming to work with us on this case arrived today. I want you to show him around this floor and then brief him on everything we know so far."

"Adrien!" She protested with a sigh. "I told you to ask somebody else to show this Benedict guy around."

"But you're their boss, so it's only fitting. He should be arriving about…" He looked down at his watch. "Oh, around about now, actually. He'll be waiting outside with your assistant."

Adrien left the room without another word.

Camille stuck her finger up at him behind his back.

Victor Benedict had arrived in Paris two days ago, not knowing how long he would be here; he wouldn't be going back to Wrickenridge until they had found the group of Savants that were hunting down members of the Net in Paris and murdering them. He was stood in a little room with some girl called Eloise, waiting for the manager/boss of the 12th floor, the person whom he would be working for in the duration of his stay here.

He looked towards the door when it opened and watched as a young woman with strawberry blonde hair walked out of the office. She was wearing the average office outfit for a woman these days - white shirt, tight black skirt pulled up to her waist that stopped mid-thigh, flesh-coloured tights, and black heels. When she spoke, her English was perfect but her French accent definitely came through. Victor loved everything about the French, especially their accent and language; he thought it was beautiful and on women it was definitely sexy. "Bonjour," the woman said, smiling at him. "I'm Camille Badeaux, the manager of this department. And your boss while you're here… Which is weird considering you look more serious and more intimidating than me. Well, not really intimidating… Just scary. I'm sorry, but you're just so tall-"

"Camille," Eloise interrupted her, an amused expression on her face. "You're babbling. Again. Just thought I'd tell you like you asked me to."

"Right, yeah. Merci, Eloise. Mr Benedict, if you'll just follow me; I'll give you a tour of this floor and then brief you on the case. Although I'm really quite surprised they didn't tell you on the phone so you actually knew what you were getting yourself into. I feel like I'm going to start babbling again so I'll get off that subject right now. You see I don't work right up here," she pointed at her head. "I don't have a filter for what I say, the words just tumble out even when I don't mean for them to. And I _am_ actually babbling again, aren't I?" She sighed. "Let's just get on with on the tour, Mr Benedict."

"Okay," Victor replied, holding back laughter at how cute she was. "But please, call me Victor."

"_Victor. Huh. That's a nice name. I always used to call my male dolls Victor," _she said to him telepathically.

Victor stumbled back at the sensation that went through his mind. It felt like somebody had set his mind alight - but it was a good fire, not a bad one. The fire burned brightly; it warmed up his whole body, wrapping around his heart and protecting it tightly. He visualized a jigsaw clicking into a complete picture; he saw a bright sunny day; he saw a life full of love and happiness… He realized in that moment that he had found the one person he had been searching for his entire life, especially most recently with his younger brothers all being loved up with their soulmates.

"Are you okay?" Camille asked him in a concerned tone. "You look like you've been shot."

He looked up and into her bright green eyes. "You're my Soulfinder," he gasped.

"Holy shit," Eloise mumbled.

"Are you being serious? We're Soulfinders?" Camille asked, neither her expression nor tone of voice revealing how she felt about that. When Victor nodded, her beautiful eyes widened before she looked down at the floor. She mumbled a few words in French before looking back up at Victor. "You're my Soulfinder. You're my bloody Soulfinder."

And then, she did something that very nearly scared the life out of Victor in fear of her being harmed.

She fainted and fell to the floor with a thud.

* * *

**Please leave reviews so I know what you think? :) xo**


	2. Just brilliant

**Just a note: Because this is set in Paris and Camille's first language is French, there will obviously be bits of French in it every now and then. Now, I learnt French for five years at school and got a B in my GCSE for it overall (although I got an A for the speaking part which I was proud of, haha) but my French is most definitely _not_ perfect, so I apologize in advance for any errors I may make while writing something in French.  
Feel free to correct me if you're French or know the language well, haha. xo**

* * *

Victor had picked Camille up straight away, following Eloise's orders to lay her down on the small leather sofa that was against a wall in Camille's office. After two minutes, the phone started ringing so Eloise had to rush back to her desk. Finally, Camille started stirring and Victor - who was sat on the arm of the sofa near her feet - breathed a sigh of relief because he had genuinely started to worry for her health. Her green eyes looked up at Victor, widening when they registered who he was.

"Oh my god, it was real," she muttered. "I thought it was just a dream or something that I'd found my Soulfinder."

"Uhm, yes. Yes it was real," Victor replied nervously. Sky, Phee and Grace had all kind of rejected their Soulfinders at first; Victor didn't want to have to go through the pain of having his Soulfinder do the same. "How do you feel? I think you might have hit your head when you fainted."

"I really did faint, didn't I? Wow, that's embarrassing. Are you seriously, one hundred percent sure, that you're my Soulfinder?"

"Yes, absolutely," Victor said simply, nodding his head slightly. Suddenly, Camille sat up and moved so that she was on her knees on the sofa; she threw her arms around Victor's neck and pulled her to him, infectious laughter escaping her lips as she held onto him. He smiled euphorically at her reaction and wound his arms around her waist, holding onto her tightly as well. "I'm guessing you're happy about this?"

"Happy? Évidemment je suis heureux!" She exclaimed in French, seemingly too engrossed in the moment to speak a language different to her mother tongue. Victor had no idea what she said, but she sounded pleased and when she pulled away she had a huge smile on her face, so he was guessing she was as happy as he was to have found her Soulfinder. "This is just brilliant."

"It really is," he replied, not able to stop himself from smiling at her enthusiasm. "Words can't even describe how delighted I am to have found you; I've waited so long, I didn't think it would ever happen if I'm being honest… And I don't want to ruin this moment, but we should really get to work or something," he sighed.

"Yeah," she sighed too. "I'll tell you everything we know about the case so far - which isn't a lot, I have to be honest. I don't need my notes, I remember everything considering I'm in charge of the case and it's kind of personal to me aswell."

"What do you mean?" Victor asked gently, sitting down next to her on the sofa after she shifted to sit, and pulled her legs up to her chest, resting her chin on her knees. "Personal?"

"About a month ago, Savants that worked in this building or just anywhere in the city for the Net, started being murdered." She started to explain, keeping eye contact with Victor the whole time. "Two weeks ago, my parents' house was broken into. My dad was attacked, he's okay now but my parents have gone to stay with a friend in England with my little sister, Rosalie, just so they can be safe. My older sister Simone refuses to leave her house without her Soulfinder. Last week… Last week we got a glimpse of a few of the group members. There was this massive shootout - people from both sides died - and I just froze right there, in the middle of all the bullets, because I recognized one of the group members. My little brother, Jules. He's only eighteen and he's got himself involved in something like this. He laughed when he saw that I'd recognized him. Then he raised his gun and shot at me. Adrien, my boss, he was there and pushed me out of the way in time; at the time I didn't care though, I just couldn't stop seeing the look on Jules' face. He's really with this group, killing Savants. We don't know why they're killing us - probably just because we work for the Net and they don't like the Net. Jules is the only one alive that we know by name. He was last seen three days, heading into this old building, but it was empty by the time we got there. And that's all we know right now. We've got cameras all over the city, hoping to get a glimpse of Jules so he can lead us to the others, but obviously they're not stupid and he's either not going outside, or he's figured out a way to sneak around the cameras."

Victor took all of this in quickly, eager to figure out the truth of the whole situation and put the group in jail. When his boss first asked him to come to Paris to help out, he'd been hesitant and honestly didn't want to go to a city where he knew nobody whatsoever and may not even be of any help to them. He was certain that he wanted to stay and help now though, after hearing the details of terrible murders and betrayals; especially more so now that he'd found out his boss was his Soulfinder.

"I'm sorry that Jules is involved in this," he said earnestly. "I have no idea what I would do if any of my brothers betrayed us all and went against the Net. I'd do my job, yes, and help put them in jail… But I think I'd keep giving them chances to change their minds about everything. I can't imagine what you're going through, it must be terrible."

"It is," she nodded in agreement. "Jules and I have always been really close, especially considering his power is to influence emotions so he could alter mine and make me calm whenever I was angry, which prevented my power from coming to use. Hopefully you'll never find out what my power is; I hate it. I just don't know why Jules is like this now… My parents blame themselves, they think that it was because they brought him up wrong. But the truth is, we had a fantastic upbringing so it just doesn't make any sense. I just hope the old Jules is in there somewhere."

"I'm sure he is," Victor tried to reassure her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and she nestled into his side, fitting there perfectly as if their bodies were just made to connect with each other comfortingly. Well, Victor and Camille were pretty much made for each other; body, soul and mind. "Are all the murders happening at night?" He asked.

"Yes, it's the best way for the group to get around without being caught," Camille answered immediately. "Why?"

"Well, I just had a thought. It's dark at night, obviously, so there are more shadows everywhere; cameras can't always pick up things if it's too dark. You could fit a heat sensor into the cameras so it picks up body heat, then sends a signal back here. If you get people out patrolling the streets, the people closest to the location the signal came from, could go and check out the area. It might just be someone out for a stroll, or it might someone from the group. Bring them in for questioning, just in case; I can get them to tell the truth. It might get us nothing, but it's worth a try."

"That's genius," Camille gasped and sat up straight again. "My parents have a camera with a heat sensor watching their house, it saved our lives a few times when I was growing up. Wow, how did we not even think about this?"

She stood up quickly, before grabbing her head and sucking in a deep breath. Victor stood up at once and put a supporting hand on her back. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "Just a little dizzy, guess I knocked my head a little bit when I fainted," she laughed. "It'll pass in a bit though, I've had head concussions before, honestly I'm used to them by now. I should have known not to stand up so quickly. But seriously though, I just got really excited because of your brilliant idea. That could totally work! It might not but like you said it's-"

"Camille, you're babbling," Victor interrupted her, chuckling and finding her utterly adorable.

"Sorry," she blurted out. "Anyway, let's go and get me some paracetamol, then go and share your idea so we can get it up and running as soon as we can." She looked up into Victor's warm brown and sighed happily. " You are my Soulfinder. This is so surreal."

"It really is," he agreed. "Come on then, let's get your concussion seen to."


	3. Change the world

Victor woke up the next morning, tired and dreary, momentarily forgetting the events of the day before. The hotel he was staying in was called _The Hilton Arc de Triomphe Paris _and was definitely the most beautiful and luxurious hotel he had ever resided in. He stumbled into his en-suite bathroom and got into the shower, letting the hot water wash over his body and wake him up fully, bringing the memories of yesterday to the front of his mind.

After he had took Camille to the first aid room in the building and had her head seen to, Adrien had come looking for him and asked Victor to talk to a few people that were involved in a different case. Victor willingly obliged, happy to be of help, but had been disappointed to be pulled away from Camille, whom had left work by the time Victor was finished and went back to her office. Finding his Soulfinder had given him a thrill and a kind of happiness that he hadn't ever experienced before, and he was desperate to learn everything about her.

He got out of the shower and got dressed quickly. He grabbed a coffee to go and a croissant from the café across the road for breakfast, before going over to the Savant Net building as fast as he could, just so he could see his soulmate again. Eloise was on the phone when he walked past her, but she smiled and gave him a little wave.

Victor knocked on the door of Camille's office and waited for a moment. "Come in," he heard her call out. "Hey, Victor." She spoke with a huge smile on her face when he entered and closed the door behind her.

"Hey, Camille," he replied, mirroring her smile. "What are we working on today then?"

"Well, actually, we have a development in the case," she said. "We got the heat sensors fitted in yesterday evening, and last night we picked up two guys that were hanging out around the house of a Savant family. We think that they're working with Jules' group, but they aren't talking."

"So you want me to talk to them," Victor guessed.

"Oui," she nodded. "So, are you ready to go?"

* * *

Camille was on high alert today, simply because she felt flustered around Victor and his gorgeous features, and felt like she had to impress him by working hard. As they headed down to the basement where they had cells and interrogation rooms, she held her head up high and swayed her hips as she walked. She found it strange that she was trying (and most probably failing) to look sexy and elegant, considering that was the complete opposite of who she was and she'd never tried so hard for anybody before.

She stood behind the glass - which looked like a mirror to the people in the room - and watched as Victor entered and sat across from the first guy, whom had dark hair and had been identified as twenty-seven year old Philippe Margoux. He hadn't spoken one word to anybody that tried talking to him; this frustrated Camille, although it certainly wasn't the first time this had happened.

"Hello," Victor said with a nod as he tried to get comfy in the hard plastic chair. "So I'm sure that it's no surprise why I'm here. We really wish you'd co-operate with us, it would make this pass so much quicker. Just tell us what you know."

Philippe let out an impatient, tired sigh as he rolled his eyes. In an accented voice he said, "I don't know anything. And I know my rights by the way, you can't hold me for longer than 24 hours unless I make a confession or you have any proof."

"Oh, we know that." Victor nodded. Camille watched as Victor tilted his head to the side and didn't say anything else; he just looked at the man in front of him in apprehension, eyebrows furrowing together. After a long minute, he asked, "who do you work for?" There was a new underlying tone to his voice and Camille guessed that he was using his compulsion powers on Philippe. The two men were locked in a staring contest, neither one of them blinking, both rigid in their seats; it slightly scared her that her Soulfinder could have this amount of power over somebody, and she was thankful he didn't know anything about her power, because he would surely react more scared than she was right now.

"We don't know who he is," Philippe replied in a monotone, flat voice. "He says all of his orders through Jules Badeaux - his second in command." Camille got chills all over her body at those words. "Jules tells us what to do and we do it, no questions asked."

Victor stayed professional, despite the fact he obviously knew that Camille would be affected by Philippe's words, and continued asking questions. "What is the aim of your group? Why are you killing Savant families?"

"We're killing them to get the attention of the Savant Net. They'll never find our leader and this won't stop. The Net will be working so hard to find our leader that they'll be disorganized in other things so it'll be easier to overtake them. We want to create a new world, led by Savants because we are superior to ordinary humans. If somebody refuses to join our group, we'll kill them. We are going to change the world."

"Is that why you and your buddy were hanging outside the family's house last night?" Victor pressed. "Were you going to ask that family to join you, then kill them if they refused so they couldn't tell the Net?"

"Yes. It's what we've been doing for the past few weeks."

Camille didn't want to hear any more. She tapped on the glass twice with her knuckles to indicate for Victor to finish the interrogation, told the other person in the little side room with her to report back to Adrien, before going into the corridor where Victor was already waiting for her. "I had to use my power obviously," he said as he followed Camille back towards the lift to go upstairs. "But at least we know what they're planning now."

She pressed the button for the ground floor. "Yeah, it's enough to put them both in jail, he basically admitted that they've both killed people." She looked at her watch and saw that it was half past 11 - they had been down there for nearly an hour, having had to prepare what Victor would ask before he went into the room where Philippe was. "I'm going for an early lunch. Do you want to come with me?"

"Yeah, sure," he nodded eagerly, a happy grin on his face. "You'll have to pick the place, I don't know where the good places are around here."

"That's no problem."

"Camille…" He sighed as they stepped out of the lift. "You don't have to hide your feelings from me, you know. You just found that not only is your brother a part of the group, but he's the second in command. I can tell that you're upset."

They signed their names in the book where employees checked in and out (there had been a machine to use, but it broke), and went outside. It was a particularly sunny day and Camille took a deep breath, thankful for the fresh air and open space. She'd felt like she was suffocating inside the building.

They walked alongside each other for a minute until she finally replied. "I am upset, yes. But also… I'm not surprised. Jules has always been confident, and a leader. I should have thought of this earlier. I'm disappointed more than anything, it's still hard to think about my brother being against the Net… But I don't want to talk anymore about it."

"Okay," he smiled. "Let's get lunch then, and finally get to know each other."

* * *

**Please leave reviews! xo**


	4. The big break

The sun shone brightly - a beacon in the sky - as Victor and Camille walked through the Jardin du Luxembourg, talking about their lives, getting to know one another. When they got to the subject of families, Camille hesitated a moment before deciding not to talk about Jules. "My parents are great, they're really supportive of everything I'm doing. I'm especially close with my mum, she's my best friend. Sometimes it feels like I'm the oldest, not her," she laughed. "My dad keeps her crazy side in line though. My dad's a Savant… He found his Soulfinder when he was 18, but she died. He met my mum a few years later and they fell in love instantly. My mum's a human, but she knows about the Savant world. Even though they're in London until all this passes over, we still talk a lot. I miss them though, you know? My younger sister Rosalie is only five so she doesn't really know what's going on, but I'm glad about that. She hasn't developed any Savant powers yet, so we're thinking maybe she's more like my mum and more ordinary human? The rest of us had a sense of our powers since we were about two, you see. And Simone's a few years older than me… We're not that close. We just don't agree on a lot of things and ever since she found her Soulfinder, we've spent even less time together because she's always with Henrie. Not that that's a bad thing, he's lovely, but I would love to see her more often and work on our relationship, get closer."

"Yeah, I get that," Victor nodded. "Thankfully, I'm close with all of my family. Two older brothers - Trace and Uriel. Four younger brothers - Will, Xav, Yves and Zed. The younger ones have all found their Soulfinders - Grace, Delilah, Phee and Sky. And my parents are Soulfinders… We've always been close, I haven't even considered that it could have been different, it's just the way it's always been. Trace and Uriel live in Denver whereas the rest of us live in Wrickenridge. Apart from Will and Grace; she's an actress, so she travels a lot and he tends to go with her. I think they're in Los Angeles at the moment."

"Who are you the closest with?" Camille asked curiously. She was already enjoying hearing about Victor's family. She liked that they were so close and got along well; she doubted any of his brothers would even be tempted to go against the Net and betray their family. As quickly as that thought came to her, she brushed it away, not wanting to think about Jules and ruin her good mood.

"Out of my brothers, I'd probably say Trace. He's a cop, but occasionally does work for the FBI, and a lot for the Net, like I do. I guess working together has brought us closer, we understand each other and communicate well. Out of my sisters…" Camille had a short moment to smile at how cute it was that he called them his sisters. "I'm closest with Delilah. She talked to Xav in his dreams - that's her power - and told him to rescue her. That's how they met. She'd been kidnapped and tortured for a year, and I was the one that found her. I guess because of that, I'm the one that she trusts the most and we bonded. Her and Xav have a baby girl now and they made me Godfather. Best feeling ever," a proud grin spread across his face. "So, tell me about your friends."

"Not much to tell," she shrugged. "I don't really have any. I put so much time and effort into my work, I always have done, so I don't really have time to go out with friends and stuff. But I prefer it that way. I've never really been very sociable when it comes to things like that."

"I'm pretty much the same, to be honest. Guess we really are a perfect match, huh?" He nudged his shoulder against hers and they both laughed. "Camille, I was wondering… What's your Savant power? You haven't told me yet. All you've said is that you hope I'll never find out what it is, and that because Jules can influence emotions, he used to calm you down and stop your power from coming to use…"

Camille sighed, suddenly not having an appetite for the baguette in her hands. She had known that he would ask that question eventually, but she had been hoping for more time to think over her answer, to prepare herself. She didn't want to scare him away just yet. "It's hard to describe," she said, picking her words delicately. "Ever since I was little, I've had bad anger problems. Normally I can calm myself down in time, but when I don't… I can't even control it because nobody's willing to help me practice because they know they're going to get hurt. It just sort of happens really, without me even thinking about it… I cut off a person's senses - everything's just completely blank for them; they can't hear, see, feel, smell anything - then I sort of send little electric shocks into their brain that they can feel, despite having everything blocked out. It can be mild, just a little pain, or it can be so bad that it can cause nerves in their brain to burst, or even cause a brain aneurism. All they can feel is the pain."

"Woah," Victor breathed. He was silent for a moment and Camille cursed herself for telling him the truth. He was probably disgusted and terrified by her right now, just like everybody at work was. And so he should be. She could hurt him pretty badly if she lost control of her anger just for her moment. It scared her just as much as it did other people. "Have you ever… Used your power on somebody?"

"Yes," she nodded. "When I was about nine, I was arguing with my father over something and lost control of my anger. I only hurt him a little bit, but that's when we knew exactly what my power was. Before that, we only thought I could cut off a person's senses. And a few years ago, I was walking home one night when I was attacked by this guy. He was a lot stronger than me and I knew I stood no chance against him. And that made me angry… I ended up causing so much pressure to his brain that he died," she admitted quietly.

"You were just defending yourself," Victor said gently, "I can understand that. Do the Net know how much you can do?"

"Oh yeah, that's why everyone at work is scared of me. The leaders of the Net want me to learn how to use my power as a weapon, seeing as it'd be useful in a fight, but I can't control it. I can't turn it on and off and if somebody gets in my way, I'd probably hurt them as well, even if I didn't mean to. That's why I just try my hardest not to use it at all… I don't like hurting people."

* * *

When they got back to work, Camille got called up to Adrien's office and she let Victor come with her. Adrien wasn't surprised to see him with Camille. "Ah yes," he said. "The new Soulfinders of the office. Congratulations on finally finding 'the one', Camille," he rolled his eyes at his fake enthusiasm. "We have a massive development in the case."

"What is it?" Camille asked eagerly, wondering if this was the big break they had been hoping for.

"After that big shootout, we kept a record of all the faces we saw working for Jules' group, and CCTV caught one of them going into an abandoned hotel," Adrien explained. "Over the next hour, more people were going in and out of the building."

"We have to go there," Camille said. "Tonight, if possible. We need to organize a team, prepare them for anything."

"It could be a trap," Victor spoke up. "Surely they've noticed the extra cameras all over the city. They know that we'll be watching, looking for them. They're not stupid, they've already proved that. If we just go barging in there, we could be going right where they want us. We should wait for a bit, continue watching the building to make sure it's not a trap."

"We don't have time for that!" Camille argued. "They kill at least one different family every night, Victor. We have to protect the civilians as well as we can, and giving Jules' group more time out there without being arrested is just practically letting them kill people. We can't do that. Even if it's a trap, we have to take the risk. We have to know as soon as possible."

"Camille's right," Adrien sighed. "I agree that we should wait longer to make sure, but with the lives of all those families at risk, we can't."

"But you're putting the lives of our people at risk by sending them in there! Camille, remember what you said at lunch? You said that you didn't like hurting people."

"It's part of their job description!" She replied, exasperated. "They knew what they were getting themselves in for when they started working here. They know how to look after themselves and they're dedicated to their work. They can't be scared of every little thing, if it means that more civilians may die. I don't know how you do things in America, but over here, we take our jobs seriously."

"So do we! I'm just saying… Camille, you're their boss. You're supposed to protect them, not let them go walking into a trap alone," Victor said, a look of disbelief in his eyes.

"I know that! That's why I'll be going with them, just like I do on every mission like this one. I wouldn't ever make them do something that I wouldn't, Victor. If you disagree with me so much, you don't have to come with us." She turned back to Adrien. "Get the team ready, we leave tonight."

"Will do," Adrien nodded.

With one last glance at Victor, daring him to argue with her once more, she left the room. Victor sighed angrily. "She's so irritating! Does she not listen to anybody else's opinion at all?"

"Certainly not," Adrien chuckled. "What did you expect for a Soulfinder? Somebody that looked to you for protection? Unlucky, if so. Camille's independent, she knows how to look out for herself. She makes her own decisions, she doesn't let anybody else tell her what to do."

"Yeah, I'm starting to learn that. She's freaking amazing, but I've never met anyone that seems as annoyingly stubborn as she is."

"Well… That's just how Camille is," Adrien smirked. "Good luck spending the rest of your life with her."

* * *

**Please leave reviews! xo**


	5. Stay with you

Camille, Adrien and a group of people that worked for them, all surrounded the abandoned hospital which was situated in a rough area. Each were wearing a completely black outfit, with bulletproof vests; they were also wearing earpieces so they could contact each other, as well as having guns, just in case it resulted to them having to use them.

Before going to the hotel, they had all met up in the Net building where they'd prepared for the mission. Victor hadn't shown up. Camille knew that Victor was probably still angry at her - she had seen the look of disbelief and disgust on his face when she said she would continue with the mission, despite the chance of it being a trap. But still, she didn't regret the decision. It was a worthy risk, and she would have thought he would have agreed seeing as he had worked for the Net just as long as she had. The only thing she regretted was handling Victor's disapproval as she had done. She didn't want her Soulfinder to be angry at her, they were supposed to be happy together, not arguing. She had to admit that she'd felt a pang of disappointment when he hadn't turned up, but truthfully, after his outburst, she hadn't expected him to turn up.

Her thoughts about Victor ended when Adrien gave the signal for the group to start moving into the hotel. Some were going through the back door, some were going through the three fire exits. Camille, Adrien and two guys called Jon-Paul and Roman, were going through the front entrance.

The doors were unlocked and the four of them entered the lobby silently, moving as one. The lights were off, but they didn't switch them on so they wouldn't draw attention to their entrance so soon. Thankfully, Camille and Roman both had torches, which they switched on and held out in front of them. Camille guessed that once upon a time, the lobby had been magnificent, but had now fallen into a deprived state. The golden wallpaper was faded and peeling off the wall in places, the floor was grey with dirt, and it smelled vaguely of sweat mixed with rodent faeces. She crinkled her nose at the horrid scent and listened for any movement, but the only sound was the breathing of her and her peers.

"Nobody here in the back," a tinny, deep, heavily accented voice came through her earphone. "But we've found a list of Savant families living in Paris… This is definitely the place."

As soon as the person had finished speaking, the two torches fused out, just like they would in a horror movie. Did Jules' group have somebody that could control electricity? She briefly wondered to herself. It was a power she'd seen a few times before.

Camille tightened her grip on the gun in her hand as soon as she heard the sound of footsteps shuffling towards the four of them. "Who's there?" Adrien called out, only to receive no response other than a haunting laugh.

"I'm just bait," the person finally said, his voice coming from directly behind Camille. She could feel his breath on the back of her neck; it made her shiver in fear. "You saw me enter the building earlier and assumed the others were already in here, didn't you?" He laughed again. "Well, it's not your lucky night. They're not here. They're out tonight."

"You mean out killing innocent families?" Roman asked, his usual bitter attitude magnified tonight. Roman had once been a bubbly guy that was constantly joking around and laughing, always believing the best of people. That all changed however, when he met his Soulfinder, who was killed just a week after they met by an enemy of Roman's. He blamed himself for her death and missed her dearly; now he had a negative outlook on everything in his life and was rather violent in his work these days, more violent than was necessary. "You're sick bastards, you know that? And you… Why don't you turn on the lights so we can see where you are? Or are you too much of a damn coward?"

"Ah, but then you'll kill me. See, I'm not stupid. And besides, I have special orders from Jules Badeaux."

"Special orders?" Adrien asked. "To do what?"

Camille gasped as she felt calloused hands close around her throat. She tried to call out for help, but the fingers pressed down on her neck tightly, cutting off any speech and her breathing. She dropped her torch and gun to the floor - they fell with a clatter that echoed in the otherwise silent lobby - and reached up, trying to pull the hands away from her. It was no use though; he was much stronger than her. She was vaguely aware of Adrien calling something out, but couldn't pay much attention to him. She couldn't breathe; she started to see black dots in her vision as he continued to strangle her.

Remembering her training lessons, she relaxed her entire body, falling limp in the man's arms, faking unconsciousness. He loosened his grip on her just the slightest bit, and that was all she needed. She ducked down and twisted out of his grip before spinning around and kneeing him as hard as she could in his privates. Her head was still ringing and she was struggling to breathe from the strangling, but she forced herself to stay conscious and protect the colleagues of hers that were unaware of the danger that had just occurred.

The man grunted but didn't fall; she could hear his heavy breathing close by her still. She bent down and felt around her for her gun. Thankfully, it hadn't fallen far from her and she found it within a second.

She closed her eyes and listened for his breathing again, turning around slowly until she pinpointed his location, and aimed her gun in his direction.

And then, she pulled the trigger.

* * *

Over at _The Hilton Arc de Triomphe Paris_, Victor was taking full advantage of their gym by working out his frustrations on the treadmill. He was mad at Camille for being so stubborn and jumping into a mission straight away. He was mad at himself for not going with Camille and the others to help out like he should have done. It was his job, after all. After having a phone conversation with his mum and dad, he had crawled into bed, but found he was unable to sleep due to his worry over Camille. So now, there he was on the treadmill, in his workout gear - a vest top and sweatpants - breathing heavily from running so much, his body covered in sweat.

When a tall, slim hotel employee walked over to Victor and asked, "monsieur Benedict?", he turned the treadmill off and nodded at the employee. "Sorry to interrupt," he said. "You have a visitor in the main lobby. With it being so late, we would have told her to come back tomorrow, but she's being pretty persistent. It's a Miss Camille Badeaux."

Victor thanked him and made his way up to the lobby, not bothering to shower or change first. It was nearly midnight, why was Camille at his hotel? When he finally saw her, she was in an all-black outfit: the sort of outfit one would wear on a mission if they had the same job as she did. Clearly, she had come here straight from the job. He walked towards her slowly, trying to gauge whether or not she had come here to shout at him.

He watched as her eyes roved all over his body, before finally resting on his face, her expression blank. As soon as he was just a few steps away, she moved towards him… And surprised him by wrapping her arms around his waist and clinging onto her tightly. He hesitated for less than a second before he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her just as tight. They stood like that for a minute or so before she finally lifted her head to look up at him, but kept her arms around his waist.

"Are you mad I wasn't there?" He asked gently. "I'm sorry, I know I should have been."

Camille shook her head and said, "I'm glad you weren't. Oh Victor, it was horrible. I know it could have been much worse, but I was so scared… Afterwards, all I could think was that I wanted to be with you because I knew you'd be able to make me feel better. So I came straight here."

"Good, I'm glad.. What happened?"

She let go of him, her arms going up to gently probe at her neck. It was then that Victor finally realised it was swollen, bright red and turning purple in places. "Oh my god!" He gasped. "What happened? Tell me, Camille! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she reassured him. "It doesn't hurt that much. There was only one guy from Jules' group there and he started strangling me. The lights were out so the others didn't see… I managed to get out his arms and, well, before he came after me again or any of the others… I shot him. They took him to hospital but he died on the way there! I mean, I've killed people on the job before, but it doesn't make it any easier. I hate having to hurt people." She broke into tears and Victor wrapped his arms around her once again.

"Shh, it's okay. I understand, I've been in similar situations before," he crooned. "I'm not going to tell you not to think about it, because I know firsthand that that doesn't work. You should go home and get some sleep, love. That's the best thing to do… Do you want me to give you a lift?"

Camille looked into his eyes again and said, "actually, I was wondering… Can I stay with you tonight?"


	6. Mixed signals

**There's a teeny tiny bit of French in here that I think I got right, but I'm not sure because I'm not amazing at French. Sorry if it's wrong, haha. **

**Please leave reviews again! xo  
**

* * *

Sat in the front passenger seat of Victor's car, Camille smiled as she looked at the passing scenery. He was driving her to her flat so she could change before they went to work together. Her neck was still sore and was now covered in nasty purple bruises, but against Victor's protesting, she was determined to go into work and not spend the day at home recovering. She'd just wear a scarf to cover the bruises, she decided. Thinking back to this morning, she realised that it was probably the first morning in a long time that she'd actually been in a good mood…

"_Camille," she heard Victor saying as he gently shook her awake. "Come on, if you want me to drive you to yours then you need to get up, sweetie. Come on."_

"_Non," she moaned in French. "Soyez tranquille!"_

"_No, I won't be quiet," he chuckled, surprising her by understanding what she said. "I'm guessing you're really not a morning person, huh?"_

"_No," she mumbled. "And how did you understand me, anyway? I thought you didn't know much French."_

"_I don't," he replied. "But there's this website online that teaches you. Thought I might as well learn the language seeing as I don't know how long I'll be here, and because my Soulfinder's French," he said proudly. "Now, are you going to get up on your own?"_

"_No," she pouted and buried her face in the cushion._

"_I guess I'll just have to get you up then," he said in a wicked tone. _

_Before she knew it, Victor had pulled the duvet off, and considering she was only in her underwear and a t-shirt of Victor's, the chilly air made her shiver. But still, she refused to get up and continued burying her head in the cushion, trying to force herself to get back to sleep. When Victor tutted in mock disapproval, she could just imagine him stood there shaking his head, and couldn't help the giggle that escaped from her lips. _

_Suddenly, she felt Victor's hands on her waist and within a second, he had lifted her into the air and thrown her over his shoulder._

"What are you thinking about?" Victor asked, casting a sidelong glance at her. "You're smiling to yourself."

"This morning," she grinned. "It's been a few years since I've had somebody there to wake me up in the morning. That's why I'm always late to work, it takes me forever to drag myself out of bed," she laughed.

Victor chuckled and said, "I'm the opposite. I'm an early bird, I never sleep in. At least when we live together, I'll be there to make sure you're awake on time."

Camille smiled, her usual confidence suddenly gone. Feeling shy was something she hadn't felt since she was a young teenager; it scared her, in a way. But in a good way. "We're going to live together one day?"

"Of course. Now that we've found each other, that's it. We're together for life," he said sternly.

"I know," she nodded. "It's just all so surreal, still. How will it work though? I live in Paris, you live in Wrickenridge."

Victor's eyebrows furrowed together as he stared out at the road ahead of them, the roads and sidewalks already filling up with people on their own way to work or school. "One of us will have to move," he finally said. "We've got time yet anyway, we don't have to decide anything right now. But I guess eventually we'll have to talk about our future together."

"Okay, yeah," she agreed. "There are a few things I want us to talk about too, but this probably isn't the right time. Turn left here," she ordered him, giving him the directions to her flat. "Just park on the corner here, my flat's in that building there."

After parking the car, Victor said, "we could talk about the future and that tonight if you want? I'll take you out for dinner or something," he grinned.

"Okay," she replied, her heart pounding in her chest at how beautiful he was when he smiled like that. "Uhm, just wait here. I'll be quick, then we can just go straight to work."

* * *

Later that day, Camille had a few minutes spare, so just like she often did, she invited Eloise into her office for coffee and a chat. The girls were both always listening out for office gossip and loved a chit-chat about it, but recently they hadn't had time to because of the massive case they were working on, and Camille hadn't had a chance to listen out for the gossip.

When she asked Eloise what everybody was talking about, the younger girl laughed. "You and Victor, of course!"

Camille's eyes nearly bugged out of her head. She always kept her private life, well, private, so she was never the centre of the gossip. Until recently, nobody had even know much about her family, let alone her relationship. "What?! Why?!"

"You really can't figure that out?" Eloise replied sarcastically. "Hmm, let me think… A hot American comes here to help on a case, and stuns everybody by being the boss' Soulfinder. Everyone's seen you both leaving together at lunch every day, and laughing together all the time. Everyone's talking about how adorable you are together! And they're wondering if he'll soften you up a bit, so you're not such a heartless, mean boss," she joked, winking.

Camille rolled her eyes. Now that she thought about it, she wasn't surprised that the office gossip was about her and Victor; if she was in their position, she'd be gossiping about it too. She sighed happily and blushed as she said, "he _is_ hot though, isn't he?"

"_Very_!" Eloise answered, causing both girls to fall into a fit of giggles. "You're a very lucky girl, Camille. So, have you two… You know…" She waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"No!" Camille gasped with a laugh, before suddenly turning serious. "Unfortunately not," she sighed. "I stayed at his last night, but we didn't do anything. He saw me in my underwear when I changed into one of his shirts, but turned his eyes away quickly as if he didn't want to look at me. We haven't even kissed yet! I don't know, maybe he just doesn't want me… But then, this morning, he said that we're for life and he wants us to have a talk about our future together. He's sending out so many mixed signals, Eloise. It's making my head a mess."

Eloise was silent for a moment as she pondered this. "It's probably not that he doesn't want you. You're a very attractive woman, Camille, even I can tell that and I'm completely straight. Do you have any idea how many guys in this office are lusting over you?" She snickered a little. "Maybe he's just a little shy when it comes to that stuff?"

"No," she shook her head. "It can't be that. He told me that when he was younger, he was known as a bit of a ladies man and slept around a lot. He's kind of ashamed of how he used to be and he hasn't been like that for a few years, but I don't think he'd be shy about that with me…"

"Well maybe it's because he knows it'll be special with you because you're his Soulfinder. Or maybe you really just don't do anything for him," she said mockingly.

Camille smirked and shook her head. "Guys are so complicated. I mean, I'm not one of those girls obsessed with sex, but it's nice to feel wanted. I never catch him checking me out like other guys do, and that bothers me - I hate other guys checking me out, but it'd be nice to know that my bloody Soulfinder is attracted to me! I know we haven't technically known each other that long, but it feels like we have, you know? Apparently Victor's brother Yves married his Soulfinder about a week after they met. I'm not saying I want to get married right now, I'd just like to know that he does actually want me..."

"Tell him that then," Eloise suggested. "Obviously don't just come straight out with it, just kind of, hint at it, you know."

"Okay," Camille nodded. "I can do that. Tonight. He's taking me out for dinner so we can talk about our future. I'm terrified. I agree that we need to have the talk, but what if I find out that he doesn't want the same things as me? And then we have to decide if he's moving to Paris permanently, or I'm moving to Wrickenridge. It's not like we can exactly have a long-distance relationship; it'll hurt us both to be apart for so long, that's how it is with Soulfinders."

"Don't think about all that now and cause yourself unnecessary worry," Eloise said gently. "What are you wearing tonight?"

"No idea. I don't know where he's taking me, so I don't know the dress code."

"Ooh, I know!" Eloise grinned. "I'll find Victor after I've finished that filing work and tell him he should take you to that new restaurant that opened up. You know, the one with the great view of the Eiffel Tower? Yeah, everyone dresses real fancy there, so he'll have to wear a suit or tux, and it's a chance for you to show him how well you scrub up!"

"But I don't have anything elegant enough for that place," Camille moaned.

"We'll go shopping straight after work and I'll help you pick something nice out. And once he sees you, he will definitely be checking you out," she laughed.


	7. Talk about us

Camille wasn't vein, or one of them girls obsessed with her looks, but she knew on some level that she had a good body and she was self-confident. She'd inherited the same figure as her mum: a curvy, hourglass-shaped body, slightly large breasts and long legs. The dress she had bought for tonight after Eloise confirmed Victor would be taking her to the new restaurant, showed off her figure perfectly. It was a red gown that clung to her curves and flowed down to the ground, and the neckline plunged into a V shape, accentuating her cleavage. She was wearing black kitten heels, matched with a black sparkly clutch bag. Her strawberry blonde hair wasn't tied up for once, and was instead flowing in it's natural waves down past her shoulders, just brushing the dip in her waist. She only had a dab of foundation and blusher on, along with a few streaks of mascara, but no eyeliner, and a bright red lipstick that matched her dress.

Normally she would admit that she didn't look too bad, but Victor was her Soulfinder, the guy she was supposed to spend her life with, and he'd made no obvious sign to show he was attracted to her, so she found herself feeling more self-conscious tonight than she ever had done before. Would he think she looked beautiful, or would he be disgusted at the sight of her? She wanted to make an impression, show him how much of an effort she'd made just for him, without coming across as too pushy or dominating.

She was still looking at herself in the mirror, wondering if she'd chosen the right dress, when the intercom in the living room buzzed. She let out a long, shaky breath and walked over, pressing the button. "Yes?"

"It's me," she heard Victor's deep voice through the speaker; the sound of the rough, masculine tone caused butterflies to start fluttering incessantly in her stomach.

"Ok, I'll be down in a minute," she replied, seeing as it easier than buzzing him into the building.

After taking a few long seconds to compose her growing nerves, she grabbed her clutch off the coffee table and left her flat, locking the door behind her. The elevator in the building had been broken for the past few months and the landlady didn't seem to be making any move to hire someone to fix it, but thankfully Camille's flat was on the second floor so she only had one flight of stairs to walk down.

When she pulled the door open and felt the cool night air hit her sensitive skin, she shivered. She looked at Victor just as he turned his head to look at her, and her breath hitched in her throat as she took in the sight of him in a perfectly fit black tux, along with a bow tie which was a pleasant change to the normal ties he wore for work a lot. She watched as he took in the sight of her, his eyes roving down and up the length of her body, never once lingering on a certain part of her body for long. He stopped when his eyes met hers again, a loving smile growing on his face.

"_You look so beautiful," _he said to her telepathically, as if talking out loud would ruin the moment. _"I've never seen you with your hair down before, it looks lovely."_

Camille grinned, thankful that he at least thought she looked beautiful, whether he'd checked her out or not. Being called beautiful; she could live with that. For now, at least.

* * *

"So, have you told your family about me yet?" Camille asked Victor, taking a sip of the Italian white wine they'd ordered to go with their meal.

"Yeah, I told my mum first," he replied with a smile. "She went crazy with excitement, telling me that she forgave me for accepting a job all the way over in France. My dad was equally happy, but managed to rein it in. And my brothers were happy for me too, of course. Have you told your family?"

"Well, I e-mailed my parents and they replied saying they were thrilled for me. I talked to my sister Simone on the phone, who, by the way, is still refusing to leave the house without her Soulfinder because she knows how dangerous Jules has become," Camille sighed. "You know, Jules and I used to be really close, and he said that when I found my Soulfinder he'd be so happy for me, but he'd still threaten the guy not to hurt me. Guess that's not going to happen now…"

She looked so sad as she talked about Jules, that it made Victor's heart clench in anger for the boy who was throwing his big sister's love back in her face. It was obvious Camille still cared for her brother despite everything, and Victor thought that maybe that made all of this so much harder on her.

"Let's not talk about your brother," he said gently, shaking his head. "We came here to talk about us, didn't we? So, you said you had a few things you want us to talk about?"

"Yeah," she nodded, meeting his eyes. "I guess firstly I just want to know how you feel about marriage and children in the future. Those are something I've always wanted and I really hope you feel the same way."

Victor nodded. "I want to get married, definitely. But just a small wedding, family and close friends only."

"That's what I want too. But I want the venue to be perfect, even if there isn't going to be many people there. I'd love to get married here in Paris."

"I'm sure we could make that happen," he smiled lovingly at her. "Children, right, hmm… Being the third oldest in my family, I had to help my mother out with the younger ones quite often, and at first that put me off having my own kids entirely. But a few years ago when I realised all I wanted was to find my Soulfinder and settle down with her, I started to think that I would like my own family. Not too many kids though, two or three."

"I've always wanted three children," she responded with a grin. "No more, no less. It's been sort of my dream ever since I was little," she laughed.

Victor chuckled before asking, "would you want to be a stay-at-home mum, or would you like to continue doing work the Net and the FBI?"

"I'm not sure," her eyebrows furrowed together as she thought about this. "I'd like to be there for my child's first steps, first words, stuff like that. But I would like to continue working as well, so maybe I'd just work part-time or something. I guess I'll figure it out when we actually have a child. Would you be bothered either way?"

"No," he shook his head. "My mum's a stay-at-home mum and we did just fine financially and all that. I'd be fine with you doing that, but I understand that you want to carry on working."

"Good. So um, what else do we need to talk about?"

"The living situation," he said. "We're going to have to move in together eventually, and I'd prefer it if we knew what we were going to do before I have to go back to America. Would you consider moving permanently to Wrickenridge? You'd be able to work for the Net still, just transfer from the Paris department to mine."

"Mmm, I don't know," she winced. "The position I have at work, well, it took me ages and so much hard work, to get so high up. Plus, the city's my home; it's beautiful, and perfect, I love it here. I can think about it, consider all of our options, but…"

"I understand," Victor nodded. "I'd prefer to stay in Wrickenridge because I have a high position at work too, and because my family are all situated either there, or near the town. If you were completely against moving there though, I'd move to Paris so I can be with you… But I'd prefer not to have to," he said quietly. "Guess we're both being selfish, huh?"

"I don't think so," she shook her head. "It's a big step, a big change. I don't think I know anybody that would relocate their whole life without thinking it through a lot first."

He nodded in agreement. "Camille, I talked to Adrien and he doesn't think Jules' group will attack anybody for a short while now that they know we're definitely onto them with the CCTV and plan of action, so he said it would be okay if we took the weekend off. It's my mum's birthday this weekend, so I'm going back to Wrickenridge and I'd love it if you would come with me. The whole family is going to be there because we're having a little party for her on Sunday, and it'd be a chance for you to meet everybody and I know it'd make the day even more special for my mum… You don't have to, of course, I understand if you'd rather stay here," he sounded nervous.

Camille put her fork down and reached across the table to take Victor's hand, giving it a little squeeze. "I'd love to go, absolutely. Besides, it'll also give me a chance to see the town I may possibly end up moving to."

Victor smiled back and looked down, realising that with her leaning across the table like this, he had a perfect view of her breasts. He gulped and looked straight back up quickly, embarrassed and beginning to blush, his face frozen. Camille sighed and let go of his hand, sitting back in her chair properly.

"Okay, what's going on?" She demanded. "I know you like me, we've just talked about getting married and having kids one day! Did you lie earlier, is that it? Do you not think I'm beautiful? I'm not saying that I want to be showered with compliments all the time, or that I like guys checking me out constantly - in fact, that kind of pisses me off. But it's different with you, because I haven't seen you check me out _once_. It's kind of horrible when it doesn't feel like your Soulfinder is attracted to you. God, you haven't kissed me yet! Do I really repulse you that much? Are you only with me because the universe thinks we're destined to be together? Do you wish your soulmate was somebody other than me? You really sure do know how to make a girl feel confident, Victor." She finished her babbling, her face flushed with anger, her eyes starting to tear with sadness and frustration.

Victor's lips twitched up into a smile; he knew he shouldn't have found it funny that she felt that way, but he couldn't help himself when she just exploded like that so suddenly. "Are you laughing at me?" Camille asked, her voice shaking.

"No," he shook his head. She raised her eyebrows. "Okay, yeah," he finally let the laughter out.

Camille rolled her eyes but couldn't hold back her smile. "Why?"

"I don't even know," he replied, shaking his head again. "You just looked… You looked like a cute baby kitten trying to look as tough as a lion. You ended up just looking adorable."

"You know, I am quite dangerous, whether I look it or not," she said.

"I know," he smirked. "But you really don't look it. Is that really how you feel, though?"

"Yes," she pouted.

"Camille, you have no reason to feel like that," he said, now serious. "You should be confident with how you look. Do you know how many times a day someone comes up to me in the office and says how lucky I am because they think you're hot?"

"That's bullshit," she rolled her eyes.

"I'm not joking! It was funny at first, now it's just annoying and makes me feel angry that they look at you in that way. I'll warn you now that I get jealous easily, and when I do, I can be quite over-protective. But I guess I'll have to get used to it, because you're beautiful, I mean that. And what's this rubbish about me not being attracted to you?"

"You never look at me the same way other guys do! Even tonight, you haven't checked me out."

"I have," he laughed. "I'm just more discreet about it than other guys. I seriously cannot believe you think that I don't find you attractive," he shook his head in disbelief. "I've never met anyone as gorgeous and sexy as you, stop being silly."

"Then why haven't you even kissed me?" She insisted.

"Because - and I don't care if I sound like a girl here - I want it to be perfect," he shrugged. "You're my Soulfinder, I only get one chance for a perfect first kiss with you."

"That's really sweet," a huge smile spread across her face.

Victor laughed and said, "so, are you done thinking I don't want to be with you?"

"Yes," she giggled and nodded. "So, tell me about Wrickenridge."

* * *

**Reviews make me happy. Happy Charlotte = Quicker updates.  
Just saying ;)**

**Thanks for reading! xo  
**


End file.
